TechAudioPro-Ject Debut Pro review: a truly tantalising turntableCan Pro-Ject put no foot wrong with the Debut Pro? It’s a great turntable option in a very competitive marketWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.(Image credit: Pro-Ject)T3 VerdictLet there be no doubt: Pro-Ject knows exactly what it’s doing when it comes to extracting maximum bang for your turntable buck. The Debut Pro looks and feels good, is built to last, and its sound is good enough to keep you happy for the long haul.Reasons to buy+Detailed, open and coherent sound+Deft sonic integration+Good build, finish and specificationReasons to avoid-Can be bettered for rhythmic fidelity-Some very capable rivalsWhy you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
TechAudioPro-Ject Debut Pro review: a truly tantalising turntableCan Pro-Ject put no foot wrong with the Debut Pro? It’s a great turntable option in a very competitive marketWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.(Image credit: Pro-Ject)T3 VerdictLet there be no doubt: Pro-Ject knows exactly what it’s doing when it comes to extracting maximum bang for your turntable buck. The Debut Pro looks and feels good, is built to last, and its sound is good enough to keep you happy for the long haul.Reasons to buy+Detailed, open and coherent sound+Deft sonic integration+Good build, finish and specificationReasons to avoid-Can be bettered for rhythmic fidelity-Some very capable rivalsWhy you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
Can Pro-Ject put no foot wrong with the Debut Pro? It’s a great turntable option in a very competitive market
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Pro-Ject)T3 VerdictLet there be no doubt: Pro-Ject knows exactly what it’s doing when it comes to extracting maximum bang for your turntable buck. The Debut Pro looks and feels good, is built to last, and its sound is good enough to keep you happy for the long haul.Reasons to buy+Detailed, open and coherent sound+Deft sonic integration+Good build, finish and specificationReasons to avoid-Can be bettered for rhythmic fidelity-Some very capable rivals
(Image credit: Pro-Ject)
(Image credit: Pro-Ject)
T3 VerdictLet there be no doubt: Pro-Ject knows exactly what it’s doing when it comes to extracting maximum bang for your turntable buck. The Debut Pro looks and feels good, is built to last, and its sound is good enough to keep you happy for the long haul.Reasons to buy+Detailed, open and coherent sound+Deft sonic integration+Good build, finish and specificationReasons to avoid-Can be bettered for rhythmic fidelity-Some very capable rivals
T3 VerdictLet there be no doubt: Pro-Ject knows exactly what it’s doing when it comes to extracting maximum bang for your turntable buck. The Debut Pro looks and feels good, is built to last, and its sound is good enough to keep you happy for the long haul.
T3 Verdict
Let there be no doubt: Pro-Ject knows exactly what it’s doing when it comes to extracting maximum bang for your turntable buck. The Debut Pro looks and feels good, is built to last, and its sound is good enough to keep you happy for the long haul.
Reasons to buy+Detailed, open and coherent sound+Deft sonic integration+Good build, finish and specificationReasons to avoid-Can be bettered for rhythmic fidelity-Some very capable rivals
Reasons to buy+Detailed, open and coherent sound+Deft sonic integration+Good build, finish and specification
Detailed, open and coherent sound
Deft sonic integration
Good build, finish and specification
Reasons to avoid-Can be bettered for rhythmic fidelity-Some very capable rivals
Can be bettered for rhythmic fidelity
Some very capable rivals
Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
A lot of the relatively rude health of the vinyl format is thanks to Pro-Ject. For over 30 years now, the Austrian company has kept the turntable flame alive even through its darkest mid-90s days - and it’s safe to say the company has sold any number of us our very first record player.
The original Debut deck launched in 1999 - and with this ‘Pro’ variation, Pro-Ject wants to sell you your second (or maybe even your third) record player too. But can a hero of the entry-level work its magic higher up the food-chain too?
Pro-Ject Debut Pro: Price & Availability
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
This is not insignificant money for a record player, no matter the territory you’re shopping in - and it brings Pro-Ject (not for the first time) into direct competition with some of the most auspicious turntable brands around.
Pro-Ject Debut Pro review: What’s new?
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
Naturally, there’s been no tearing up of the turntable rulebook here, and consequently not much that’s truly ‘new’. There have been definite refinements, though…
Take the tonearm, for example. It’s a combination of aluminium (on the inside, where it takes care of damping) and carbon fibre (on the outside, where its absolute rigidity is valuable).
Or consider the tonearm’s bearing housing - it’s of nickel-plated milled aluminium, and it contributes to the smooth action of the tonearm and the utter lack of play in its bearings.
The tonearm base, too, has come under the microscope - it’s height-adjustable, so adjustment of both vertical tracking angle and azimuth is possible. Which means you can go ahead and put on a chunkier slip-mat if you fancy, or try out different cartridges.
The Debut Pro is supplied with a very capable cartridge pre-fitted, though, so don’t be in any rush. Using the well-regarded Ortofon 2M Red as a jumping-off point, Pro-Ject has developed the ‘Pick It Pro’ cartridge - it’s a frivolous name for what is a deadly serious piece of moving magnet equipment.
Pro-Ject has even had a bit of a think about the platter on which your vinyl spins. It’s a hefty die-cast aluminium design, and features a substantial ring of thermoplastic elastomer around the inside to assist with resonance-damping. There’s even a little indent in the centre so your record’s label doesn’t prevent the record from sitting completely flat.
Pro-Ject Debut Pro review: Performance
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
The headlines are these: in every meaningful area where vinyl is held up as the best music storage format around, the Pro-Ject Debut Pro is a very strong performer. And it’s adept even in some areas where vinyl doesn’t automatically excel.
Where clarity, detail retrieval and insight into a recording are concerned, the Debut Pro is as good as any price-comparable rival you care to mention. From the top of the frequency range to the bottom, it unearths and retains an absolute stack of information - no matter if it’s about the texture of timbre of a specific instrument, the intensity with which it’s being played or its position on the (beautifully described and wide-open) soundstage, the Pro-Ject leaves you in no doubt whatsoever. It’s informative in the manner of a news presenter.
There’s decent dynamic heft available, too, making the journey from ‘very quiet’ to ‘extremely loud’ both rapid and significant. Low-temperature harmonic variations aren’t overlooked either, and the smaller-scale or lower-key a recording the more the Pro-Ject seems to pore over it in an effort to deliver the full story.
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
The unity and coherence of the overall presentation that’s so prized in the vinyl format is in evidence too. No matter if a recording consists of one instrument and a voice, or a full-scale symphony orchestra with its blood up, the Debut Pro extracts a tangible sense of ‘performance’. The sensation of ‘togetherness’ may seem like a redundant description when discussing a roomful of musicians all playing at once, but it’s apparent enough here to make some alternatives sound just slightly vague and/or uncoordinated.
In fact, about the only area where the Debut Pro is anything less than deeply impressive is rhythmic expression. Don’t get the idea the Pro-Ject has two left feet or anything like that - it’s more than capable of tracking the rhythmic aspects of a recording closely enough to fill a dancefloor. But when compared to the very best of its rivals (all of which, to be fair, are at least a little more expensive) it’s just fractionally less than sinuous. And anyway, as shortcomings go it’s minor in the extreme when stacked against everything the Debut Pro does so well.
Pro-Ject Debut Pro review: Design & Usability
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
It’s usually only very expensive or very cheap record players that stray from the long-established design of these things - form follows function pretty closely where turntables are concerned, after all, and Pro-Ject isn’t in the habit of scaring consumers with radical design departures.
The hand-painted MDF plinth sits on three chunky aluminium feet - these provide a little damping and a lot of adjustability when it comes to making sure your plinth is level. The Debut Pro is a belt-driven design, with an electronically regulated synchronous drive motor which, according to Pro-Ject, offers ‘accurate and stable speeds’.
So it’s basically turntable business as usual. There’s a Perspex dust-cover to be fitted, some analogue interconnects and mains power to be fitted into place at the back of the plinth, and that’s your lot. Rocket science it ain’t.
Pro-Ject Debut Pro review: Verdict
(Image credit: Pro-Ject)
(Image credit: Pro-Ject)
The Pro-Ject Debut has come quite a distance in its 20-odd years of existence, and the Debut Pro might well be the best version so far. The competition at this sort of price is strong, that’s for sure, but the Debut Pro demands serious consideration.
Also consider
Today’s best Pro-Ject Debut Pro, Rega Planar 3, Rega Elys 2 and Technics SL-1500C dealsPro-Ject Debut Pro$1,199ViewSee all pricesRega Planar 3$775ViewSee all pricesTechnics SL-1500C$1,299.95ViewSee all pricesWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Pro-Ject Debut Pro, Rega Planar 3, Rega Elys 2 and Technics SL-1500C dealsPro-Ject Debut Pro$1,199ViewSee all pricesRega Planar 3$775ViewSee all pricesTechnics SL-1500C$1,299.95ViewSee all pricesWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Pro-Ject Debut Pro, Rega Planar 3, Rega Elys 2 and Technics SL-1500C dealsPro-Ject Debut Pro$1,199ViewSee all pricesRega Planar 3$775ViewSee all pricesTechnics SL-1500C$1,299.95ViewSee all pricesWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Pro-Ject Debut Pro, Rega Planar 3, Rega Elys 2 and Technics SL-1500C deals
Pro-Ject Debut Pro$1,199ViewSee all pricesRega Planar 3$775ViewSee all pricesTechnics SL-1500C$1,299.95ViewSee all prices
Pro-Ject Debut Pro$1,199ViewSee all prices
Pro-Ject Debut Pro$1,199ViewSee all prices
Pro-Ject Debut Pro
Pro-Ject Debut Pro
$1,199View
$1,199
$1,199
See all prices
Rega Planar 3$775ViewSee all prices
Rega Planar 3$775ViewSee all prices
Rega Planar 3
Rega Planar 3
$775View
$775
$775
See all prices
Technics SL-1500C$1,299.95ViewSee all prices
Technics SL-1500C$1,299.95ViewSee all prices
Technics SL-1500C
Technics SL-1500C
$1,299.95View
$1,299.95
$1,299.95
See all prices
We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
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